Cautiously - make that very, VERY cautiously - I'm going to assume the Hornets already have Thibodeau's word that he'd accept if offered. Cautiously - very, VERY cautiously - I'm going to assume that. Because the alternative is possible, and it isn't nearly as attractive.

And it's this: New Orleans is chasing a coach who's chasing another job, a guy who could leave the Hornets hanging and embarrassed and looking like they completely misread the situation, or easily were misled, or chose to mislead everyone in an attempt to fake progress.

You'd hate to latch onto that last possibility but around here, we're learning with the Hornets that a deal isn't a deal until it's a signed deal, and to not believe anything we can't see.

As for the coaching vacancy, it's been no secret that the top personal choice would have been Avery Johnson, a former head coach who won an NBA title as a player and led Dallas to the NBA Finals as a coach. Players instantly would have had to respect that, Johnson is a noted motivator and if he gained anything from his Mavericks experience, which ended with him being fired, then he'd be all the more prepared to lead the Hornets.

But Thibodeau certainly can't be labeled a bad choice. Like every candidate the Hornets interviewed, he has warts. But as the acknowledged architect of Boston's defensive vice, he has gained noteriety and has become one of the hottest coaching candidates in the league.

The Nets might want him. The Celtics absolutely should want him if Coach Doc Rivers leaves after this season, as he reportedly is considering. The Bulls, Hawks and Cavaliers might look in his direction if they're unable to land their leading candidates.

And anyone who has watched the Celtics defend and watched the Hornets defend should know why the Hornets would want him.

Definitely, though, there's legitimate concern over two things: One, because he never has been a head coach before, there's no idea how he'll handle a locker room as The Man and, two, we have no idea whether he has any idea what a team should do offensively.

The first is more pressing than the second because the second can be remedied by the hiring of an "offensive" assistant. If Thibodeau can find someone who knows as much about offense as Thibodeau is alleged to know about defense, the Hornets can be a better balanced team. Granted, he won't have Kendrick Perkins and Kevin Garnett on the post to shut down the lane defensively. But if he can get the Hornets to adopt his defensive principles, that should lead to improvement on defense and offensively, the team should be able to score enough.

But that won't matter much if he's not respected in the locker room.

Chris Paul, David West and Co. have to buy what Thibodeau sells and while his sales job will be easier if Boston wins its second title in three years in June, the fact is he's going to have to have a presence about him if he wants to lead an NBA team. Just because Hornets players have good manners doesn't mean they're willing to follow anyone who sits in the lead chair.

If, that is, Thibodeau wants to sit in the lead chair.

Cautiously, I'm going to assume he does, going to assume the Hornets won't go so far as to publicly leak that they're going to offer him the job without actually knowing whether he'll accept the job. Cautiously, I'm going to believe today that the franchise would not engage in that kind of grandstanding in order to make it look like it's making progress in terms of hiring a coach.

I'm going to do that because the alternatives would suggest the franchise didn't do its due diligence with Thibodeau, or with its fans, or with anyone who'll want to know why it didn't have a deal done before it announced it was offering a deal in a matter as important as this one.